Millions of people own rifles, shotguns, and pistols for recreational and security purposes. As evidenced by the ceaseless stream of accidents involving firearms, preventing children, teenagers, and other unauthorized people, such as intruders, from attaining access to these firearms is a problem that is yet unsolved. Intensifying this problem is the particular attraction which young children and teenagers appear to have for firearms. While an adult may think a firearm and its ammunition are safely put away, childhood resolve all too often finds a way to gain access to such weapons and inappropriately treat them as toys. The consequences of such play can be devastating, even life ending, to children, teenagers, and adults. Because of their vulnerability and innocence, it is indescribably saddening when a child or a teenager is killed or severely injured while playing with a firearm. Thus, any improvement in firearm safety which makes it even just a little harder for young children and teenagers to gain access to firearms is heralded as an important advance.
In previous efforts to address this problem, locking devices have been provided which clamp around the trigger guard of firearms for preventing access to the trigger. However, these devices do not and are not intended to inhibit access to the other crucial components of the firearm such as the hammer/firing pin and breech. Other devices can only be used with a limited number of gun configurations because the gun anchor is fixed in the device. Further, many such devices use externally accessible gun anchors, such as pins, to secure the firearm in the locking device. Externally accessible gun anchors present a point of attack for small children and teenagers to gain access to the firearm. Another typical point of attack is the lock mechanism of the device. Specifically, the lock mechanisms used heretofore are too easy to pry open.